Traditional elevator systems have machine rooms located overhead in the elevator hoistway or shaft for housing the lifting motor, drive system and various other components. The terminal ends of elevator ropes that attach overhead are typically located in the machine room. Typical machine rooms provide ample space for elevator rope termination hitches having configurations capable of supporting substantial vertical loads.
Elevator systems of the type having no machine room are limited in overhead space. Thus, machine and rope terminations located at the top of the hoistway must be designed to fit within a relatively confined area while providing support for substantial vertical loads. Such vertical loads are supported by the elevator rails or similar structures. The resultant vertical load is concentrated toward the inside of the hoistway, generally coincident with the centers of mass of the elevator car and counterweight. The resultant vertical load, therefore, causes a moment force applied to the support structures. The moment is typically reacted through tensile loading of brackets, and bolts attaching the brackets to the hoistway walls, near the top of the hoistway. Such tensile loading requires significant hoistway wall strength, thereby increasing building cost.